Zoë Kubaisi is a Child, Adolescent and Young Adult Counselling Psychotherapist and Supervisor with over 12 years’ experience working with children and young people. She offers counselling for children and young people at Cherry Tree Therapy Centre in Buckhurst Hill, alongside online counselling for adolescents, university students and young adults.
From 2014 to 2024, Zoë worked with the children’s mental health charity Place2Be, running counselling services and supervising practitioners across primary, secondary and independent schools in Essex, East London and North London. This has given her a strong understanding of what can happen when difficulties at home, school, in friendships or within a young person’s emotional world begin to affect their confidence, behaviour and ability to cope.
Parents often come to Zoë because something has changed and they are no longer sure what to do. Their child may be refusing school, struggling with friendships, becoming increasingly anxious or angry, withdrawing to their bedroom, having meltdowns or finding everyday demands overwhelming. For the child or young person, it may simply feel as though nobody really understands what it is like to be them.
Zoë works with both sides of that experience, helping children and young people feel listened to and understood while supporting parents to make sense of what may be happening underneath the behaviour.
Parents usually know when something has changed, even when they can’t quite work out why. Your child may have become more anxious, angry or withdrawn, their sleep or eating may have changed, or getting them into school may have become a daily struggle.
You may find yourself constantly trying to interpret their behaviour, advocate for their SEN needs or prevent the next meltdown. When you’re the person everyone else relies on, it can be difficult to know whether you’re responding in the right way or whether there is something else you should be doing.
Zoë understands that behaviour is often a way of communicating something a child cannot yet put into words. Rather than seeing the behaviour as the whole problem, therapy creates an opportunity to become curious about what may be happening underneath it. This might include anxiety, difficulties with friendships, bullying, family changes, sibling relationships, bereavement, previous family experiences or the impact of neurodivergence.
Children don’t always sit down and explain how they feel in the way an adult might. Distress may show itself through behaviour, play, physical symptoms, worries, anger, clinginess or changes in how they cope at home and school.
Zoë’s work with younger children is developmentally appropriate and can include play, sand and creative therapeutic approaches alongside talking. Her therapy room is deliberately different from a classroom, with creative materials available so that children have different ways to communicate and explore what is happening for them.
She supports primary-aged children experiencing school anxiety, separation from parents or carers, friendship difficulties, sibling rivalry, worries about illness or death, impulsive behaviour, restlessness and difficulties forming positive relationships with teachers or peers. Counselling for children can give them a relationship in which they can gradually feel safe enough to express things that may be difficult to explain at home or school.
Adolescence can be complicated even when things are going relatively well. Academic pressure, friendships, relationships, identity, sexuality, family expectations and online life can all be happening at once.
Zoë works with teenagers experiencing intrusive or frightening thoughts, social anxiety, low mood, bullying, friendship and relationship breakdowns, exam pressure, difficulties attending school, and questions around LGBTQ+ identity and sexuality.
A teenager may know they are struggling but still believe they should be able to “shake it off” or cope in the same way everyone else seems to. For some, depression and low mood in adolescence can appear as irritability, withdrawal, lack of motivation, or spending increasing amounts of time alone.
Therapy gives them a relationship outside the immediate family and school environment where the focus is on understanding their experience rather than telling them what they should be feeling or doing. Zoë aims to help young people develop greater self-awareness and self-esteem and feel more confident navigating the world around them.
When a child or teenager begins struggling to attend school, the impact can quickly spread through the whole family. Mornings become stressful, learning is disrupted and parents can find themselves caught between their child’s distress and the expectation that they should somehow get them through the school gates.
Having spent many years running counselling services within schools, Zoë understands both the educational environment and the emotional world of the young person trying to navigate it.
Difficulties attending school may be connected to anxiety, bullying, friendships, academic or performance pressure, separation anxiety, neurodivergence or difficulties feeling safe and understood within the school environment. Therapy can help move the conversation away from simply “How do we get them back into school?” towards understanding what going to school has come to mean for that particular child.
An ADHD or autism assessment can answer important questions, but it can also bring new ones for both a young person and their family.
A child or teenager may begin looking back at experiences of school, friendships, overwhelm or feeling different through a completely new lens. Parents may feel relief at finally understanding some of their child’s difficulties while also wondering what needs to change at home or school.
Zoë has particular experience supporting children and young people around the impact of neurodivergent assessment and diagnosis. Her focus is on helping the individual understand themselves, recognise what they need and develop a stronger sense of self rather than reducing them to a diagnosis.
She can also help families think about communication, relationships and the adjustments that may make everyday life feel more manageable.
Leaving school, beginning sixth form or going to university can bring freedom and opportunity, but these transitions can also expose difficulties that were previously manageable.
Zoë supports sixth-form and university students experiencing social anxiety, low mood, fear of failure, exam pressure, relationship difficulties, bereavement and uncertainty about what comes next. Some may feel lonely or find they can’t switch off their thoughts, while others struggle with the expectation that they should now be able to manage everything independently.
For neurodivergent young adults, the increased demands of managing study, relationships, routines and self-care independently can be particularly difficult. Counselling can provide some consistency while they adjust to this stage of life and begin working out what they need rather than what they think they should be able to manage.
Seeing your child struggling can be frightening and exhausting. You may feel responsible for finding the answer while simultaneously wondering whether you’re getting everything wrong.
Zoë recognises that parents don’t always need another person telling them how to parent. Sometimes they need somewhere to think.
If a child isn’t ready to engage in therapy, Zoë offers parent consultations to help parents explore what has changed, think differently about behaviours that may have become difficult to manage and consider what might be happening underneath them.
This can be particularly valuable when family life has begun to revolve around avoiding arguments, managing meltdowns or trying to persuade a young person to engage with everyday life. Zoë can help parents consider practical strategies, strengthen communication and relationships and, where appropriate, identify additional sources of support.
Zoë also works with children and young people affected by grief and bereavement, past family trauma, parental mental health difficulties, addiction and recovery.
Children and teenagers don’t necessarily experience or express loss in the same way as adults. Feelings may emerge through behaviour, anxiety, anger, withdrawal or difficulties at school rather than through conversations about grief.
Therapy gives them somewhere to make sense of what has happened at a pace and developmental level that feels manageable.
Zoë is warm, creative and adaptable in the way she works. Her room isn’t intended to feel like another classroom or assessment environment; creative materials, play and sand can all form part of therapy when appropriate.
With adolescents and young adults, sessions may involve more traditional talking therapy, either face-to-face or through online counselling. Zoë adapts the way she works to the age, developmental needs and individual personality of the person in front of her.
At the heart of her work is building trust. She wants children and young people to feel that they have been listened to and understood, and parents to have somewhere non-judgemental where they can put down some of the responsibility they have been carrying.
As Zoë describes it, she hopes a child or young person would leave therapy feeling that it was “trusted and playful” and that it helped them feel better about who they are.
Zoë works integratively, drawing on Person-Centred, psychodynamic, systemic, attachment and child development theories, alongside play and sand therapy and solution-focused approaches.
In practice, this means she doesn’t expect every child or young person to engage with therapy in the same way. With younger children, play and creativity may provide the language for something that is difficult to put into words. With teenagers and young adults, talking therapy can help them understand difficult feelings, relationships, pressures and patterns in their lives.
Zoë also considers the wider world around a young person. Family relationships, school, friendships, developmental stage and other systems can all influence emotional wellbeing, so the work is not limited to looking at the young person in isolation.
Zoë has more than 12 years’ experience working with children and young people. Between 2014 and 2024, she worked with Place2Be, where she ran counselling services and supervised practitioners across primary, secondary and independent all-through schools in Essex, East London and North London.
Her qualifications include:
Zoë is a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).
She also provides reflective and ethical clinical supervision for qualified and trainee practitioners and professionals working with children and young people in private practice, schools and mental health organisations.
Zoë offers 50-minute sessions at Cherry Tree Therapy Centre in Buckhurst Hill and online, where appropriate.
Availability: Wednesday to Friday, 12pm–7pm, and Saturday, 10am–1pm
Fee: £80 per 50-minute session
Language: English
Yes. Zoë has extensive experience working within primary and secondary schools and supports children and teenagers experiencing anxiety, bullying, friendship difficulties, academic pressure and other issues that may contribute to difficulties attending school. Therapy can help explore what is making school feel so difficult for the individual child.
Zoë works with children, teenagers and young adults around the emotional impact of neurodivergent assessment and diagnosis. This can include making sense of feeling different, understanding their needs, developing self-esteem and adjusting to what a diagnosis may mean for them at home, in education and in relationships.
A child or young person may not always feel ready for therapy. Zoë also offers parent consultations, providing an opportunity to explore your concerns, understand behaviour differently and consider ways of supporting your child and your relationship with them.
No. Particularly with younger children, counselling doesn’t have to rely entirely on talking. Zoë uses developmentally appropriate approaches including play, sand and creative activities, allowing children different ways to express and explore their experiences.
It can be difficult to know what to do when your child is struggling, particularly when you’ve already tried talking to them, supporting them at home or seeking help through school or other services.
Zoë can work directly with your child or young person, or begin by meeting with you as a parent to better understand what has been happening and what support may be most appropriate.
If you would like to explore working with Zoë, complete the enquiry form below and our team can help you arrange the next step.